LIVERPOOL — Liverpool Public Library community engagement staffer Cindy Hibbert was honored at Assemblymember Pamela Hunter’s Exceptional Women of Central New York Awards Ceremony on Monday, June 13, in the LPL’s Carman Community Room.
Hibbert won the Community Educator Award, one of 12 bestowed during the evening.
“My annual Exceptional Women of Central New York Awards provide an opportunity to honor and recognize the women in our communities who go above and beyond to support their neighbors and make the world a better place,” Hunter said in the program for the event.
Cindy began working at the LPL in 1999 as a clerk. She became a part-time librarian assistant, and then a grants manager. She’s been working in the community engagement department for 10 years. Her award cites her accomplishments for programming adult events, and for securing the national grant for this year’s six-part Women’s Suffrage series.
“Cindy is always thinking of interesting ways to present diverse topics to our patrons that she feels they might be interested in or benefit from,” said LPL Director Glenna Wisniewski. “Cindy loves the Liverpool community and its history, and is very well connected. I am very pleased Cindy received this honor. It is very well deserved.”
Hibbert said she pinched herself when she got the news.
“Is, this, like, a real thing? I was shocked,” she said. “Everybody at the LPL works so hard. The honor is to have somebody feel that way about my work. I was humbled by it. I’ve worked with (Hunter) a couple of times, at the (Onondaga Lake) Park and the (LPL) grand reopening. She was a speaker for us one year at our Short Encounters event. She’s a great supporter of the library.”
Hibbert reflected on her time at LPL.
“Something wonderful happened to me 21 years ago — I came to work at Liverpool Public Library,” she said, “and that allowed me to continue my education in a different way — through adult programs, meeting many interesting people, speakers I have encountered, and through the talented and brilliant staff that work at LPL. I think every day is a different experience. To receive an award for doing something that I love and has enriched my own life so much is extra special.”
